Tuesday’s start was slow, with an afternoon of speeches only the delegation members of the speaker bothered to pay much attention to. Except for the two big surprises of the day: Rep. Dennis Kucinich (Ohio), who delivered a blistering critique of the Bush administration, tied John McCain directly to eight years of failure and bounced around the stage like a college cheerleader. Where was this Dennis when he was running for president? Montana Gov. Brian Schweitzer got the crowd on their feet with a retail political stem-winder that would have pulled crowds away from a Rodeo back home. Schweitzer’s populist rhetoric was just what the crowd needed to get fired up for the night’s big event, the appearance by Sen. Hillary Rodham Clinton (D-N.Y.)

Barack Obama has already proven that he can deliver a powerful, uplifting speech. He’s going to have some tough acts to follow on Thursday but one can only assume he’s up to the task.

This carefully staged building of the Democratic convention is just what is needed to finally give Obama the “bump” all the experts have been looking for. It looks to me like the campaign is on message and on time.

Goddard is a founding partner of political consultants Goddard Claussen. E-mail: ben@gcsa.com